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Wednesday, January 6, 2016

How to Defrost a Samsung Ice Maker

[UPDATE 8-29-16]: The solution, sent out to all Samsung service Techs in a bulletin, is in the new post on this subject here.

If you have a Samsung refrigerator with the SZAB001TA1 ice maker, you have a problem.

We recently purchased a French door refrigerator by Samsung (RF263BEAEWW) from Best Buy (heavily discounted as scratch and dent, $1,200 instead of $2,300… plus all the extra money for the extended warranty, etc.). As usual, I researched this major purchase for weeks, and drove around to just about every major appliance store and outlet in Denver to see what I could find on scratch-and-dent-deep-discount.

While this fridge was the best rated fridge available (currently there seems to be a dearth of decent refrigerators on the market), it’s still had it’s issues, especially in regard to the compressor being astoundingly loud for a new refrigerator. The biggest problem we’ve encountered so far is that it started making a “churning” or “chugging” noise and I quickly realized it was the fill pump for the ice maker. The defrost was not working correctly and an ice dam was blocking the fill flow, thus the pump just kept trying to pump in water without ever quitting. Not only was the noise extremely annoying, but it was going to destroy the pump if left to continue.

Evidently the ice makers in these units are HORRIBLE, and the circuit board that controls them is also awful (and fails if you look at it wrong).

Calling Best Buy gets you nowhere, as they will only direct you to the manufacturer if the appliance is still under manufacturer’s warranty. Trying to get someone to come check out an appliance via Samsung will make you feel like you live in cold war Russia (trying to talk to the right person, trying to get someone to come to your house, getting scheduled for a visit more than a month out, etc.).

Rather than wait for someone to come fix it while putting up with the awful noise and having the pump fail completely while we waited, I ended up doing it myself, and that started with figuring out how to defrost the ice maker without having to turn off the fridge (and thus empty all the contents).

Here are the steps:

On the front panel display, press the Energy Saver and Refrigerator buttons at the same time for 8 seconds. The display will switch to the Test Mode and the display (all buttons, etc.) will go dark.

Press any button within 15 seconds after the display goes dark to scroll through the Test Modes as follows:

Manual operation 1 (FF)

Manual operation 2 (0F-r)

Manual defrost of fresh food compartments (rd)

Manual defrost of fresh food and freezer compartments (fd)

Cancel (display goes completely dark)

“fd” is the one you want. The defrost mode will beep while in effect (pretty annoying) and will shut off after five minutes (I had to do it quite a few times to thaw everything out).

Once the majority of the stuck-to-the-unit ice was thawed, I used a screw driver to carefully dislodge all the ice, then completed melted any chunks I couldn’t remove by hand with a hair dryer. Finally I blew out the ice maker with an air compressor to remove any remaining droplets/moisture so it wouldn’t build up ice crystals once the unit was back on.

I’m not happy about this issue, and I really hope it doesn’t continue to happen, as returning a refrigerator is going to be a major pain (all the doors and drawers had to be removed to fit through the front door and kitchen door, not to mention the hassle of scheduling the process and storing food in the interim).

…

UPDATE 1-11-16: The ice maker is more of a problem than I had originally anticipated –more specifically, the way the ice maker is unable to defrost/thaw in an efficient manner). There is a fairly permanent puddle in the bottom of the refrigerator, and often there is so much water it pours out of the front and onto the floor (and also into the bottom freezer, creating giant chunks of ice and icicles). In fact, the water coming from the ice maker has ruined our floor (woke up one morning with a giant puddle on the floor that warped the floating cork, and I’m sure there is now mold under the flooring).

Here are some photos of the madness:

…

UPDATE 1-17-16: The Samsung Ice Maker has failed again. The genius who designed it decided that the defrost cycle, which happens on a regular basis, should drain directly into… the bottom of the ice maker housing. Thus, this next time our ice maker failed (again, pouring water all over the floor and further damaging the cork flooring), the ice tray also froze completely shut, meaning I couldn’t get the ice maker drawer out without first thawing the ice maker (which meant the thawing ice had nowhere to go except all over the place). There was nearly a full 1/2” solid sheet of ice holding the ice drawer to the bottom of the ice maker housing. I spent around 2 hours fixing the problem tonight, and I have a feeling this is only going to get worse. I really don’t want this refrigerator anymore.

118 comments:

Greetings --- Did you happen to sneak into my house and take pictures of the inside of my ice marker? Apparently I have the same problem with the same ice maker. We have not called for repair service since it's out of warranty, I think. Was hoping to find a simple fix. I will continue to follow your updates. Additionally, I will let you know if I find a possible solution. Thanks for posting this. ---Cliff

Yeah... I'm about to go ape sh*t on this situation. Our ice tray is completely frozen shut again, and the pool of water just keeps showing up on the floor. I'm hopping I can eventually get it sorted out with Samsung and Best Buy, but right now it's just a continual passing of the buck. More to come...

Agreed. Spent more than 45 minutes on the phone with Samsung today trying to get someone out here to do a warranty repair. So incredibly frustrating having to answer their STUPID questions just to get someone out here (they wouldn't send someone without first going through all their scripted dumb-ass-ery). "Is the ice maker light on? What is the temperature of your freezer?" First of all, the temperature of the freezer has NOTHING TO DO with the ice maker. They are in completely different locations! I assume the repair person will not show up and I'll have to go through it all again. I hate this fridge (RF263BEAEWW Rev. 2). Just send the repair guy out to tell me what I already know (I need a new control board), so he can order it for me under warranty.

Luckily I purchased the Best Buy extended warranty, so at least I'm covered for a couple more years, but it won't save me from the PITA of having to jump through all the hoops to get the service. Maybe we'll be "lucky" enough to have to have service 4 times in one year so we can return the fridge and just go with another brand.

I think I have found a solution on why the frost builds up on the freezer. In short, the fan air cannot reach the coil under the ice box. My freezer looked exactly like the pictures above, I could not find a solution anywhere, so I figured id take the ice maker apart and put back together, I couldn't make it any worse. So I pulled out the ice maker and found the coil was iced up, (I did not do the defrost just yet). After the ice maker was out I then put the fridge in defrost mode and dried out the entire area. I found there was still ice in the space right behind where the coil originates. I used a blow dryer and found the ice in that little hole just kept melting. So I decided to pull out the assembly thats in the back under that coil. (Sorry I don't know what its called.) It was easy, I first unplugged the connection and used a screw driver to lift the tab thats in the middle and slid the entire unite out. This unit has a fan on the top. Now heres where the magic happens!! I used the screw driver to push on the ice that was behind the coil that is still in the fridge. The ice slid back and fell out where the fan was sitting. It was a fairly large piece of ice. As my novice brain can figure, the ice was blocking the air from reaching the coil. I put everything back turned the fridge back on and reset the ice maker. I hoped for the best. Its been one day so i don't know how long it will last but this information is the only thing i have found that seems to work. Good luck people! sorry for the lack of pictures. I'm back in the ice and I think I excited frosty.

Since creating this post, I actually went through the INCREDIBLY PAINFUL process of trying to utilize the Samsung Warranty. Samsung's customer service is BEYOND abysmal. Long story short, after my third try with Samsung (and being assigned a ticket number... and NEVER hearing back from Samsung), I insisted Geek Squad address the situation. Luckily I had purchased a five year plan and since Samsung wasn't doing what they were *supposed to, Geek Squad took over and rocked it. I will do another post on the "proper fix." Samsung has issued a service bulletin for this icemaker containing two fixes. (1) The water feed tube is often pushed to far into the ice maker and needs to be retracted, and (2) air leaks into the icemaker from the seem along the refrigerator wall and needs to be sealed up. Additional, my service tech made a few other mods that help the ice maker function better. And finally, I received a new controller board, and the new board was quite different (more chips, capacitors, etc.) Obviously Samsung knows they made some bad equipment and have since "fixed" it, but only if you demand it (the squeaky wheel gets the oil).

We had similar problems with our Samsung fridges ice maker. Go to the internet when you don't know what's wrong, right? Our fridge was growling intermittently over the past couple weeks. By listening closely we figured the noise had to be from the ice maker as everything else seemed to be fine. However, there wasn't anything we could do to stop the annoying growl, even though it wasn't that loud. Shutting off the ice maker at the panel didn't buy us more time. It just kept it up. We then figured it had to be the sound of its attempt to fill with water to make ice. The longer it went on, the sadder the growl sounded, so we made it a priority to work on it before the motor burned itself out. We tried to take the ice bucket out but it was frozen in place. We didn't find any suggestions here for an easy clue so we went back to the old way of thawing to cure the problem and it worked like a charm, and in only about 2-3 hours.Pull out the fridge far enough to unplug it. Remove food in fridge to cooler. Place small tub like container with HOT water under the icemaker's bucket. Be sure to have a towel in bottom of fridge to catch drips. Once the ice has thawed enough to dislodge the jam, remove the troublemaking ice. Plug fridge back in. Put food back in. You're done! No more growling. Our plan: dump ice from bucket at least monthly. It makes ice amazingly fast.

You wrote: "We didn't find any suggestions here for an easy clue..." Not to be rude, but did you read the post? There is a section marked "here are the steps." It tells you how to defrost your ice maker using the front panel.

A funny update: I received a letter in the mail from Samsung last week letting me know my 1 year warranty was up and asking if I'd like to extend my warranty. Only $135 for a year! Considering how EXCELLENT my experience was with my original Samsung Warranty (one of the worst I've ever experienced), I could barely contain my excitement!

Mine is having similar issues. It seems like the idea is melting sometimes and other days it's fine. Thankfully, I've not had it pour out on the floor. It did seem better when I cranked the freezer and fridge temps down to -4 and 38º... it made solid ice really fast.

Amazingly, this is all I've found so far on the Internet. It sounds like the seam might be letting warm air in. Or it could be that chunk of ice someone else mentioned blocking the fan...not thrilled about doing all of that. I don't have a warranty. I've had this fridge for 3 or 4 years, and I love it. Only recently has it been loud, which sounds like it's the water pump. Also, yesterday it sounded like it was in power cool all day. I finally turned up the temperature to get it to go off.

We paid for the extended warranty been having the problems with the ice maker we called samsung they can't find nobody in our area to come and look at our refrigerator and said if we can find someone to pay for the repairs ourself and we would get reimbursed thats not going to happen i don't trust Samsung and never buy a nother unit from Best Buy again this thing has been a big piece of junk

I had the same issue but I was "lucky" enough to have Samsung send a repair man out. During his visit as he was trying to repair it he yells, "OH NO!!!". Starts cussing and ran outside to his truck and got on his phone. I was right behind him asking what was wrong. He finally looked at me and said he accidentally cut a main wire and now our refrigerator is useless. It was DEAD and there was no way to fix it! This was only 5 months after we purchased it. We had to live out of coolers (family of 5) and go to the store almost every single day for 2 1/2 months (with me calling them every other day) before they finally got us a replacement refrigerator. Well guess what, we still have the SAME problem! I am so over Samsung appliances. They need to stick to making TV's!

I have had my Samsung RF25HMEDBSR a year now. I brought mine from an appliance store and I never thought to buy a warranty due to the fact that my last refrigerator lasted almost twenty years with an ice maker in the door. So we did research on a few different ones and I knew I wanted the 4the door here we found it. Huge mistake all due to the ice maker constantly freezing all over inside n around it. I have had the service person over many times do for this reason. 1 tube has a black line shouldn't be put in that far? Now should be fixed well it didn't do it. So today I called Samsung only to find out that my warranty ends May 31,2016. Know I just laugh what will I do? I've decided to talk to them and tell me what's on the table for me. I'm going to tell them my expectations from them regarding the Ice Maker that so many consumers have been having nothing but problems with. How we need a solution to this problem for a great product they make. I will then make a decision on if I will buy this extended warranty. Wish me luck I'll be doing this for all of us that got stuck with a cruddy ice maker in a great refrigerator.

Hello All,I thought I'd like to share my experience on your topic and tell you of my fix. I don't know if this will help any of you, but it worked great for me.

I began experiencing similar consequences on my Samsung (icemaker SZAB001TA1.... actually, the icemaker part number is DA9712317A (look on the bottom right of the icemaker tag)). One thing for sure... I discovered that the icemaker needs to be pulled out. It's a simple matter. In fact, after doing it once, it will go in and out in less than a minute. If you Google, "Samung DA97-15217A Ice Maker Removal Instructions", you'll find great instructions. (note the misspelling of Samsung).

I assumed that the problem was with the icemaker, so I ordered a replacement on Amazon. I got the replacement icemaker, but before installing it I discovered the following:

After I removed the icemaker, I discovered that a rectangular orifice on the fridge behind where the icemaker mounts was blocked with ice. This is a vent for a fan to transfer air. Getting this ice removed requires that the refrigerator be put in defrost mode (as you described above). There is no way to thaw the ice otherwise. The idea is to completely remove the ice and dry this rectangular port.

Perhaps I didn't need the new icemaker, but I had already purchased it so what the heck. It was way cheaper than a service call. If you order a new icemaker on Amazon, search for "DA9712317A". It was free one day delivery.

Once I removed the ice-blocked orifice behind where the icemaker mounts, and installed the new icemaker, all is good.

I am pretty sure that the icemaker was not the problem. So I intend on removing the icemaker every year and removing any built-up ice in that port. Yeah it's a bother, but it'll be quick and easy - now that I know how to remove the icemaker.

One thing for sure. This is a known, understood, and regretable design flaw with the icemaker on this model. I love the fridge otherwise, so I'll just some annual preventative maintenance as described here.

I have a 2-year-old Samsung RF263 (Ice maker DA99-03924A). After 3-week-long vacation, I came home and realized that my ice maker is totally jammed with a chunk of ice wrapped around.Thanks for your blog post! It's useful than Samsung's live chat. What the Samsung tech guy told me to do is "press reset button". No help after several tries.Now, I put my control panel on forced defrost mode and it keep beeping.

The last post is exactly what is required. I talked to the owner of my local hardware store who said the ice builds up particularly when the weather is hot and humid. All one needs to do is take everything out of your fridge and freezer and let it defrost.

So when you did the manual defrost, it included the refrigerator portion too....and the separate freezer area stayed frozen??? I called Samsung & they suggested I unplug the unit & let the whole thing defrost. ��Also, if you hit cancel to get out of the test screen mode, does the display return to normal then? Just curious before I embark on Internet instructions lol. My model # is different but the freezer is similar & I have a display screen like yours. RF24FSEDBSR/AAThanks!!

Yeah... this allows you to defrost more efficiently (without just unplugging and letting everything spoil). There are actually some modifications that Samsung does to the physical ice makers now to make them work as they should (there's a place in back where a hose comes loose and sprays water all over the place icing things up, there's a gap between the bottom of the ice maker housing and the fridge wall that needs to be sealed, there's a place where they install a piece of styrofoam, etc.). We finally got a guy from Geek Squad to come out and fix things properly, and he showed me a "top secret" bulletin Samsung sent out with a number of fixes to make these things function properly. Not to mention he switched out the controller board, and the new board was *significantly* different than the old one. Thanks, Samsung.

Can you elaborate any more on the Geek Squad "hacks"? Specifically the size, placement, and purpose of the styrofoam? Also what did the controller board look like (approximate size/wire harness) and how involved was that replacement?

thank everyone for the specifics! I've done all but the board replacement. does someone have the part number? also, these fridges leak water underneath the deli tray. there's a repair kit (more insulation, much larger heating clip on heating element that inserts into drain tube to keep it from freezing) which may eliminate external water leakage. I was thinking that a wire clamped to that heating element and connected to a metal clip inserted into the rectangular opening behind the maker and in front of the fan might keep the area ice free?

I had my ice maker frozen shut yesterday. I called Samsung and they told me to use a hair dryer to get it open and then use the hair dryer to get the ice chunks out. I did it, but it took an hour. Now I finally understood how to defrost it using the instructions above, but the beeping is driving me insane. Does it really stop after five minutes? How often should you defrost it?

My ice maker froze shut. I called Samsung. They said to use a hairdryer to get it open and remove the ice chunks. I did it. It worked, but took over an hour. Now I am trying to defrost it using the instructions above. How long does it beep? How often should you defrost it?

I had the ice maker problem on my Samsung refrigerator model #RF24FSEDBSR. If its under warranty and they try and repair it 3 times with no luck Samsung will refund your complete purchase price of the refrigerator and come pick it up from your home. You must have it documented that they indeed had a service rep out 3 times and they still cannot fix it.This happened to me and they issued a full refund (thru direct deposit) and picked up the unit. You must contact customer service and not there tech support line.

I had the ice maker problem on my Samsung refrigerator model #RF24FSEDBSR. If its under warranty and they try and repair it 3 times with no luck Samsung will refund your complete purchase price of the refrigerator and come pick it up from your home. You must have it documented that they indeed had a service rep out 3 times and they still cannot fix it.This happened to me and they issued a full refund (thru direct deposit) and picked up the unit. You must contact customer service and not there tech support line.

Good luck getting anything to happen through Samsung's support line! I went through giving them all my information three times and still NOTHING happened. Finally I explained the situation to Geek Squad and they ordered all possible parts right then and there so they were already at my house when the repair guy showed up. I was very impressed with Geek Squad.

But yes, if the fridge needs repaired three times within the warranty period, either Samsung or Best Buy/Geek Squad will refund the purchase price or replace the refrigerator.

Accidentally hit "reject" instead of "publish" on this anonymous comment...

"Unfortunately I have had my Samsung for about 2 yrs now, I just now started having this problem with the ice jam and have to go thru the process of defrosting it....reading this post, I am very disappointed in so called technological advances now-a-days. I think we should bombard Samsung with complaints, hopefully they will issue a recall of that part of the fridge and repair it with a new model of the ice maker."

I do hope to get the pics up soon that I took while the repair guy fixed my fridge. He was at my house for quite a few hours, though much of that was simply defrosting the ice dams that had built up everywhere.

Hi there..I posted above about talking to Mr hardware store owner and thought I was just going to defrost. Then I remembered that I had a 5-year warranty with HH Gregg...one phone call and they sent an independent appliance repair company. The tech walked in and just called his boss to order a new icemaker and said it was very common. I think it's been two weeks waiting though...time to follow up.

We purchased our refrigerator in February 2014 and started having issues with the icemaker in January of this year when we ended up having to replace it. Everything seemed okay until last month when we started getting melted ice cubes and water instead of ice. I called Samsung and was told I'd have to pay for a service call because the replacement icemaker only had a 90 day warranty. I've followed the instructions found here to defrost it (thank you!) twice. The first time, it fixed the issue for two days; the second time, just one. I just got off the phone with Samsung's horrible Executive Customer Relations team who told me that they could find no evidence of the existence of the service bulletin mentioned here. I'm not sure what to do next. Class action lawsuit?

ran down the class action, delaware I think, and tho filed was dismissed. I did have (fingers crossed) some better luck when reinstalling ice maker ensuring drip channel from below coil was lodged properly into the drain (rear left) before closing top and bottom together. Coupled with suggestion of sealing off areas between ice maker housing and refrigerator has led to good results so far (about a month). stay tuned!

Well, you guys sound much more informed than the Samsung team... Just got off with them. They said unplug, re-set AND run 3 gallons of water through system too. HUH?Repair tech will be here this week (thank you Lowes) and we are going to make sure that they are in the know about the service hacks that I read about here. Thanks for all of the suggestions. I will let you know how it turns out. Model #RF263BEAEBCAA

I have the same unit but opposite issue. Mine will drop ice after a reset begin to fill and then trip the reset and ping. At least I don't have ice forming. Just hardly any ice. Added a better line to the unit so now I have more water from the water dispenser but the ice issue still remains. Tried raising the freezer temp to 0 from -2. Any suggestions?? Thanks

Interesting find here! I wish I had seen this a couple of years ago..or even 6 months ago while my fridge was still under warranty! Although my model number is not listed on the Samsung memo, it still acts just like the others. These "noises" have been coming from my fridge since day one! I thought that was normal! Now that I've turned off the top ice maker, they have stopped! But, the drawer is frozen shut right now. I tried getting ice out of it through the door but it stopped pulling ice, which I guess is because has pulled from all that it can reach. I don't use this ice maker much and have been emptying it occasionally to keep this from happening. Now, it's frozen shut. So, I'm thinking of trying this fix that the memo mentions. I don't see the answer to whether you need to empty the refrigerator or not. Is this defrost something that works within the ice maker or does it use the whole refrigerator part so it would be a good idea to empty it? TIA!

Midtngal... the beauty of "the code" is you don't have to empty the fridge. If you use the buttons listed above, it should just thaw the ice maker. When my "ice drawer" was completely frozen shut, I did have to run the defrost sequence several times to thaw enough ice to get the drawer open. The beeping gets really annoying, but at least you can use your ice maker again.

performed service bulletin repairs but still had ice dam in one month. Reduced water pressure 50%, pulled feed tube to extreme perimeter of water cylinder, and noticed scalloping of bottom of cylinder facing back of fridge. clamped a plastic piece to even the bottom surface/edge of water feeding cylinder on premise of spray leaking backwards when filling, which would explain how water was flowing over freon element and into fan chamber. Three days in and bone dry!! with harder/colder ice cubes (only slightly smaller due to water pressure reduction). BTW, also ran tiny bead of caulk over top perimeter of water fill chamber in ice maker piece to ensure water tightness. Applied film of vasoline to top of ice house where ice maker meets water feed so caulk wouldn't catch and fold over upon insertion of maker into ice house. keeping my fingers crossed!!

My ice box is also stuck frozen and the code to defrost just the ice box is not working at all on my unit, when i hold down the fridge and energy saver buttons even for a long time nothing happens..help!!!

Ugh. You are not having good luck, Ron! After our repair by the Geek Squad guy (per the service bulletin), we haven't had any issues for months. Did you replace the control board? I wonder if that's the final piece of the puzzle.

I thought I took a picture of it when he installed it, but I haven't been able to find it, and you actually have to take the panel off the back to get to it (not to mention move the fridge, in our case). Ours was in back on the middle right I think? I would remove the panel and take a look to find out for you, but the way our cabinets are arranged it's a pretty involved process to get the fridge out. I'm betting you can Google your model number and find the appropriate replacement board. Not sure that it would actually do anything in your case, but it sounds like the only thing you haven't done. Sorry you're having so much trouble beating this one!

I bought the same Samsung French door refrigerator about 16 months ago. I had to have the ice maker replaced at about 11 months. Everything was fine until yesterday I noticed water all over my floor. Water is constantly dripping from ice maker to inside fridge, down freezer gasket to floor. I removed ice tray and noticed there is ice in several places along actual ice maker and walls in the frozen form of drips. Ice maker is no longer producing ice. Freezer temp is set at 0. I am so frustrated with this. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Kohn, Swift & Graf, a Philadelphia-based law firm that handles class action cases nationwide, is investigating claims for a class action law suit against Samsung for refrigerators with malfunctioning ice makers. Some consumers have reported that Samsung refrigerator's ice maker stops working, makes strange noises, and displays error messages on the refrigerator's control panel. If you or someone you know purchased a Samsung refrigerator with a problematic ice maker, please contact us at info@kohnswift.com or cfitz@kohnswift.com to discuss your claim. All initial consultations are free of charge. Since its founding over 40 years ago, Kohn, Swift & Graf, P.C. has held a reputation as a national leader in class actions and other complex commercial litigation.

ordered main control board, the one with ice maker and water control labeled on the lower right hand corner of the board. Part number is different from the one in my fridge: mine: DA41-00826A (interestingly, board said "version 1.0", perhaps expecting to have to design future versions?); part ordered: DA92-00594B. Back-ordered. Perhaps because thousands of these ice makers are broken? Should be in by 10/14. Stay tuned......

Okay...this is AWESOME! I finally performed the defrost today. I'd set it off and then go work in the yard so I didn't have to listen to it! :-) I only had to do this twice and now the drawer is unfrozen and all the ice in the bucket is gone! Where does this water go?? There's nothing in the bottom of the freezer compartment or the floor! This has been the easiest thing I've ever done, hands down! THANK YOU FOR SHARING THIS!!!

Information for those who have a Samsung RF23HCEDBSR/AAYou must simultaneously hold the FREEZER and the LIGHTING buttons on the control panel to get this model into Test Mode. Follow Invisible's instructions above after getting the refrigerator into Test Mode.

I had the same problem with my ice maker. After fighting with Samsung several times when it was repaired I finally demanded a refund. They sent me a full refund of what the fridge cost and told me I could keep or trash it. Kept it and bought a counter top ice maker which works great plus I have $4000 extra now.

The BAD news: Grrrr that little air passage freezing up. Samsung RF28FEDBBC/AA. It takes right at 30 days to freeze that air passage to where I notice ice deterioration. So I take it apart, hair dryer it open again, and I'm good for another 30 days. The Ice maker, fan and damper had all been replaced under ext warranty. I see the problem and know how to, temporarily, fix it. Does anyone know WHY this is happening and what will fix it for good?The GOOD news was that Homedepot bought me out of the warranty. (Actually refunded the entire purchase price) because after 8 service calls they couldn't fix it.Back to the BAD news, It's now my problem. HELP!

Samsung refrigerator RF28HDEDBSR purchased from Home Depot in College Station, Texas, on May 26, 2015, and delivered on July 25, 2015. I did not purchase an extended warranty. About a week prior to October 10, 2016, my icemaker was not working, then I notice that items in the freeze began to thaw. Then everything worked for about 4 days. Refrigerator stated making loud noises. On October 9, 2016, I noticed that the freezer was not working. On October 10, I called Samsung, and the nearest authorized Samsung repair center was A&E factory over 100 miles away. The "technician" came out on October 14, and stated that the compressor load was hot. He ascertain that the freezer was not cooling properly and the refrigerator needed an Evaporator Major repair -- parts compressor, evap assy, dryer. When the technician attempted to order the parts, Samsung refused the order due to the fact that the "process ID was collect". Technician stated that I needed to request Samsung to change "process ID to warranty" so he could order parts and stated he would return on October 27 to preform the repair. On October 18, the refrigerator stopped working and I finally got an error code of 81 C. After sending an e-mail and receiving no response, and many more calls and finally speaking to A&E and Samsung customer service managers, A&E Factory told me my ticket had been cancelled. Samsung has finally made a concession on October 21 and the process id was set to warranty and a "new" service authorized center "Paul's Refrigeration" was assigned to me. Every action takes 48 hours. On October 27, the technician came out and said I needed a control board -- Not a compressor... Since October 27, a Samsung Tracking specialist has been calling me several times a day to confirm the technician came and check on my "status" which is 19 days with no refrigerator or freezer. This refrigerator model was Consumer Report recommended. DO NOT BUY SAMSUNG. The last call from Samsung mentioned that they are speaking to "upper management" to request they buy back the refrigerator. Customer Relations e-mail is eFax@sea.samsung.com

Anybody know if there's an easy way just to replace the ice maker unit as a whole and have all the defects resolved? I've looked at the bulletin that was posted with intructions and I just don't have the time to try all that. I'd call a service company, but I feel like they wouldn't really know what was going on and just charge me to come out and make their standard "fixes" which wouldn't resolve the issue.

Worked perfectly for a year. Gone for four months and come home to a freeze up in the icemaker. Heated and removed all blocked ice and it worked great for one week and another total freeze up. I can't believe I need to do this all the time, not like this was a cheap item at all.

Same issue as above. 4 french door model RF28K9070SR. Tried the defrost method mentioned above but no luck. Chatted with support.

I sent a link to this thread but they said that "We have thoroughly checked the information and observe no known or reported issues with the unit. The information posted on forums cannot always be validated, we observe that many similar described issues are posted as a unique issue, but when assessed the actual causes of these instances often differ. Content posted on third party web-sites are always subject to opinion."

When I mentioned the Service bulletin the chat support said:I am afraid; it is not a service bulletin related to Samsung.

We have a samsung RF24FSEDBSR. About 2 months ago took apart inside of fridge and defrosted with hairdryer. Trying now to defrost once a week. When I hold down freezer and energy saver it flashes and shows 'off' but I cannot not get menu to select manual defrost. I think different button combination. Can anyone help?

Seems like we are all in the same boat with poorly designed Samsung ice maker. I have the French door model RF23HCEDTSR/AA. Purchased 2 1/2 years ago from Lowe's. It has 2 ice makers, one in the refrigerator which is the problem and the other in the pull out drawer freezer. This one works great. Trouble did not begin until the warranty expired. I have heard some where that there is a pending law suit on the ice maker. I defrost mine as soon as I hear the fan making noise. There is an accumulation of ice behind the ice maker. Not a lot but enough to freeze. If I let it go too long the ice bucket is almost impossible to remove. I use a low spend Luke warm hair dryer to melt the ice. Then I am good to go for another week or two. Not that this is a solution. I plan to spend some time finding the email addresses of Samsung's CEO and board of directors to lodge my complaint. This has worked in the past with other corps. I will post their emails on this site so everyone can contact the lot. Bill B.

I have a samsung french door refidgerator freezer with ice maker on the left side of the refridgerator compartment. It is almost 2 years old now from Best Buy. It is a worst buy only because of the ice maker. Had it worked on 5 times because of the ice maker spitting out watr and ice coming out crushed when it should be whole cubes selected. Repair guy did put silicon sealant all long the edges of it. He defrosted all the ice out of it a few times. Final repair guy under one year warranty replaced the ice maker and let us know the refridgertor replacement warranty does not apply to ice maker problem, so stuck with this piece of crap that still spits out water and crushed up ice each use along with having to chip out ice along top of ice maker unit each couple of months. I am very disappointed with this samsung piece of crap. The freezer and refridgerator work fine so far. Seriously cosidering ripping out the ice maker mechanics and just placing a basic ice cube tray in there.

I just purchased the Samsung RF263BEAEWW 04, which seems to be the newest model made in August 2016. Does anyone know if Samsung incorporated the updates from the bulletin mentioned above in this model? Also, the reason i found this blog, is i was wanting to know how many cubes this normally makes per batch? Any ideas?

There should be a class action lawsuit registered. I was just notified by the Sears Repair person and Samsung that there are no parts that will fix the ice maker. It is a defective design. This would be 3 fridges in 3 years. The first one was replaced under the Samsung warranty and now this one the Sears extended warranty will only cover $2,100.00, though I would require a lot more as I have to have a counter depth fridge because of my kitchen configuration. I therefore, have to keep the 2nd fridge that doesn't work.

My Samsung is a little more very three years old and I have had this proble since the beginning. I do have an extended warranty through Sears and they have tried multiple times to fix the issue but it always happens again. At best I may get a couple of months before it freezes up again. I agree with the person before me about a class action lawsuit. I gave up a long time ago calling for a repair and now I just defrost it and it works again for a while. It is frozen up again now so I am going to try the defrost instructions above.

Our Samsung is about 3 years old and we have 2 icemakers. Both have stopped working several times. the Top Icemaker has been replaced twice and the bottom once. I thought Samsung was the top of the line, but I am about to put this to the curb. The top icemaker lasts about 3 weeks before it ices over and cubes get clogged in the top and won't let them drop. Have to use a hair dryer to unclog it so it will run for another 3 weeks. The bottom icemaker has been replaced and so has the heater that keeps the water from freezing into the machine. This about the worse $2,700 I have spent on an appliance. If someone wants it, they can just have it for hauling it off.

My 3 year old Samsung 31 CF refrigerator is a total waste of money. Both ice makers have been replaced along with water fill line heaters. The top Ice Maker is the worst design and fails every 3 weeks when it turns into a big ball of frost and ice that will not let cubes drop, then shuts down. I have to use a hair dryer to melt this glob of ice and clean up the mess. Then it's OK for 3 weeks before it happens again. If I wasn't such a nice neighbor, I would put this piece of crap to the curb, but then someone else would have the problem. Samsung might make good cell phones, but they need to get out of the appliance business.

We have an almost 3 year old RF30HBEDBSR (french door refrigerator with bottom mount freezer with the ice maker in the upper left corner of the refrigerator) with precisely the same issues that everyone else here is having: ice room getting clogged due to ice build up. We have an extended warranty through a third party and have been told the same that it is a defective design (so, they are obviously covering Samsung's a****). It IS a defective design, period. Samsung needs to stick with televisions and maybe phones (given the recent Note 7 fiasco). We have had the ice maker replaced and the circulating fan replaced. I still have to force defrost this piece of crap unit every 3 to 4 weeks. We paid over $3,000 USD for this. WE NEED A CLASS ACTION LAW SUIT.

We have an almost 3 year old RF30HBEDBSR (french door refrigerator with bottom mount freezer with the ice maker in the upper left corner of the refrigerator) with precisely the same issues that everyone else here is having: ice room getting clogged due to ice build up. We have an extended warranty through a third party and have been told the same that it is a defective design (so, they are obviously covering Samsung's a****). It IS a defective design, period. We have also been told by the same warranty company through BB that we will NOT get compensated for our problems with this unit. Samsung needs to stick with televisions and maybe phones (given the recent Note 7 fiasco). We have had the ice maker replaced and the circulating fan replaced. I still have to force defrost this piece of crap unit every 3 to 4 weeks. We paid over $3,000 USD for this. WE NEED A CLASS ACTION LAW SUIT.

We have an almost 3 year old RF30HBEDBSR (french door refrigerator with bottom mount freezer with the ice maker in the upper left corner of the refrigerator) with precisely the same issues that everyone else here is having: ice room getting clogged due to ice build up. We have an extended warranty through a third party and have been told the same that it is a defective design (so, they are obviously covering Samsung's a****). It IS a defective design, period. We have also been told by the same warranty company through BB that we will NOT get compensated for our problems with this unit. Samsung needs to stick with televisions and maybe phones (given the recent Note 7 fiasco). We have had the ice maker replaced and the circulating fan replaced. I still have to force defrost this piece of crap unit every 3 to 4 weeks. We paid over $3,000 USD for this. WE NEED A CLASS ACTION LAW SUIT.

I am having the exact same problem. It is so frustrating. I have had the frig for about 3 years. Every 3 weeks or so it freezes up and will not produce ice. Then you try and get the bucket out and it is frozen inside the unit. This is the worse frig I have ever bought. I was going to call Samsung and see about getting a service tech out, but listening to everyone else have so many issues and not get the issue resolved. I am thinking it is not worth my time.

I am having the exact same problem. It is so frustrating. I have had the frig for about 3 years. Every 3 weeks or so it freezes up and will not produce ice. Then you try and get the bucket out and it is frozen inside the unit. This is the worse frig I have ever bought. I was going to call Samsung and see about getting a service tech out, but listening to everyone else have so many issues and not get the issue resolved. I am thinking it is not worth my time.

Same problem here. We bought the fridge as a floor model. It worked fine for a year and now I've had to defrost it 2 months in a row. Today will be the 3rd time. I'm going to try the fix that was explained above. Also, it's easier to just defrost it with a dryer..I'm posting because I want to be in on the class action should it come about!! Good luck guys and thanks for the thread.

Hello all - have a new French door Samsung delivered in January and guess what. Yep same problem as you all. Have spent the last hour combing over this thread and all the postings. Very helpful - thanks for all the info. Wanted to let people know to check the Oct. 7, 2016 posting regarding possible class action lawsuit (some of you asked and maybe couldn't find it, so many comments here. We may call them as well since this is actually the 4th fridge we have had delivered to us from Lowes in the last 3 months because of problems - 2 Frigidaires and now 2 Samsungs. Lowes does not repair they just replace. We are having a problem getting to the defrost cycle on our control panel. We can get the screen to disappear but then nothing else no matter how we push whatever buttons we push. Just stays blank. Model # RF28HFEDTSR/AA. Any suggestions? We can't even get our ice drawer out it's so frozen. Thanks all for all the comments and suggestions, and thanks Invisible for starting this up. 'big ed'

The first time our ice maker made crazy noise and stopped the Lowes repair person came out and defrosted the unit. He then ordered the "only" sealer (made by Samsung and VERY expensive) that would seal the unit and keep this from happening again. It has happened twice more and I have used my hairdryer to repair. This is way beyond acceptable. I am going to check into the class action suit. They need to be accountable for a product that is defective.

Thank you for this blog. We just bought a house and negotiated all appliances stay. Well the fridge is a Samsung and I am currently listening to the beeping of the defrost. Hopefully this won't be like everyone on here with disappointments. Thanks again.

My problem.. I started getting wet. Worse every day. wet mushy ice. That square vent hole is freezing up solid. The Geek squad replaced the auger unit (with the fan) and the tray unit. Worked for about 3 weeks and now the same thing. after reviewing the service bulletin referenced above by googling the term ASC20150717001, I found the fill hose on my frig looked to be inserted way too far into the downspout. I backed out as described in the bulletin. Now we wait and see what happens.

I have been dealing with this issue for two years as well. So far my research has exposed that the ice maker located inside the refrigerator section is almost impossible to control properly without a thaw freeze cycle. Second, Samsung actually had the audacity of telling my supplier that this is the fault of Americans because we want our ice made too quickly so we get small bits instead of nice clear ice cubes. Really have no solution other than if anyone does find a good lead on this being a class lawsuit I'd like to know and otherwise keep taking the cube maker out regularly and cleaning out the ice build up (I find a spatula works well!)

Not that it's any consolation at all, but I've found a temporary "Work Around" because I got tired of "blow drying" every week or so to get rid of frozen ice buildup in the ice maker compartment just so we could get ice from our $2300 piece of crap! So now I TURN THE ICE-MAKER OFF and just buy bagged ice from the store and fill the ice bucket (we keep the bag in the freezer and just keep refilling as needed). It dispenses fine and doesn't freeze up/leak because the ice-maker isn't going through it's "cycles"; which causes the problem, I believe. FYI, we bought my mother-in-law the exact same fridge and she started getting the exact same problem at the exact same time frame; about a year after install.

have same problem with Samsung fridge after warranty ran out, naturally. Phoned Samsung today and was told straight out that it's my problem now because warranty ran out. I told her about the bulletin and she already knew about it, but didn't care. I told her bout possible legal action,and she said it wouldn't be worth my time because I can't win. So, naturally, I told her to shove it up her blank.

I've had the same problem as everyone else here. Samsung knows it's a design issue. After several service calls, Samsung declared my unit un-repairable and sent me a check for the full amount I paid; upon the agreement I would not sue them.

I've also tried all the the things in the service bulletin; and like clockwork; ice builds up after 2 weeks and same problem.

I am wondering if the real problem here is the control board. That's the one thing I have no replaced. The unit worked very weak for a year, then this happen. Makes me wonder if a chip on the board is prematurely failing. Before I go spend $150 o a new control board , I 'd like to know if this solved anyone's problem.

Head over to the "update" thread for more updated information (http://www.theinvisibleblog.com/2016/08/fixing-samsung-ice-maker.html). I'm actually having the Geek Squad guy back to the house today. I got sick of defrosting the ice maker every couple of days (been doing that for months). We've had a pool of water on the floor in front of the fridge for weeks (it flows out of the ice dispenser door and has ruined our flooring) and also the bottom drawer in the fridge is almost always full of water (not sure why Samsung thought it was a good idea to run the ice maker drain into the drawer where you store food). The ice compartment had been frozen shut for a long time, and when I called Geek Squad to make an appointment two weeks ago, I stopped doing the every other day defrost. We haven't had *any* ice since. I will be sure to take a pic of the updated controller board when the guy is here today and the back is off the fridge, but I'm not sure it will make that much of a difference for you; it certainly hasn't for us.

I really dislike Samsung as well as my refrigerator. The ice maker contains a design flaw - Samsung knows of the problem and has chosen to do nothi8ng to correct the problem nor compensate the customers for the problem. I hope the Koreans responsible for the design mess and the Koreans who subscribe to the sales/marketing theory "let the buyer beware" rot in hell. Best Buy is also responsible - they choose to ignore their responsibility and should accompany the Samsung folks when they "rot in hell". I will never again purchase a product built by Samsung nor any Kosraean manufacture nor will I ever purchase anything from Best Buy.

Hello all. We appreciate the great response we received from you all! As a follow-up to our previous message on October 7, 2016, our firm, Kohn, Swift & Graf, P.C. has filed a class lawsuit against Samsung for their refrigerators with defective ice makers. The suit was filed in the District of New Jersey, Case number 2:17-cv-01263-CCC-MF. If you would like more information generally about our class action suit or how join in our suit, please contact us at info@kohnswift.com. Thank you.

I found the lowering the temp to -3 really helps a lot. It was on 0. I noticed my ice came out with some pieces looking wet so I lowered the temp and now instead of at least once a week I go a couple of weeks or more.

Our icemaker is in the top of the refrigerator and I think everytime the doors gets opened the ice maker warms up a bit. And my dear wife tends to leave them open often.

After dethawing, I tried turning the ice maker off on the front panel. This seems to slow down ice buildup, but not stop it. This leads me to believe the root cause isn't the ice maker, but perhaps it being turned on exacerbates the problem.

I also noticed that the water seems to be flowing from the left side of the compartment. With the ice maker on, I get about 2 weeks before it clogs up, with it off, I get about 6 weeks. If I let it sit past 4 weeks with the icemaker on, I have to dethaw the fridge for a day just to get the drawer out.

Has anyone tried taking the ice maker out and thawing it out completely. I am just trying to figure out why I didn't notice this until a year after purchase. What portion of this system is clogging up during that first year to give us the 2-3 week buildup range.

Any ideas welcome.

I would also like to know if the class action suit applies to Canada too.

We paid 3,000. for a cabinet depth Samsung refrigerator. Since the beginning, we have had nothing but loud fans, slushy ice following a water spurt, damaged face, and constantly wet wood floor. After six service calls and a refusal to refund or exchange our unit, we are looking in to a class action suit with Kohn, Swift, and Graf. Shame on Samsung and shame on Lowe's for continuing to sell them.

After reading all these comments, I have the same problem. I love my French Door Samsung, well I did for the first two years, perfect functioning. Then ice maker completely frost covered and blocking ice from dropping down. Thaw it out and you get ice for another week or two. Voila, then completely frozen again. I think Samsung should be responsible for this obvious defect, but have no idea how to go about it.All I do know is that I am totally ticked off having to spend 30-40 minutes heating the ice maker every week or two. We need to get a news team to expose this defect. Someone out there.....help this retired senior that just wants ice out of a $2500 refrigerator.

I had a similar issue of the ice bucket freezing intermittently. I replaced the icemaker as well as the ice bucket but it still continued to happen. Doing some research it seems that the seal that meets the outflow of the icemaker has a tendency to break away over time. I think when you've lowered the temperature in your refrigerator closer to the freezing point The air did not get warm enough to start defrosting some of the ice or melting it down. I finally decided to go "nuclear quote and shut the entire refrigerator down by a circuit breaker. This way I am sure all the ice will melt. The gasket it's self is hollow so if you can find material like bubble wrap and cut it into small strips you can pack the gasket and I don't make a better seal with the bottom of the icemaker. I would also recommend once the icemaker is defrosted turning off the refrigerator light and using a flashlight shining it along the edges in the back and underneath while you "Tomil Asian "look inside the icemaker. I have also read that over time it has a tendency to come away from the side of the refrigerator breaking the seal at that point. In that case caulking usually works . I would look at the ceiling first since the left door does not close properly like it should . And having kids who open the refrigerator all day long and at times hanging on the handle I am sure that is what caused the seal on my icemaker to fatigue. The fix is simple just filling in the hollow portion of the seal but you can access by lifting the inner lip inside the chute in the left hand door . I hope some of this helps you.

This fridge is a pos. I have had it for 4 years and the last two years I routinely defrost (once I can actually get the tray out) the ice maker every 3-4 weeks. I follow the directions from one of the original comments to defrost it by using the panel and the Fd then I get hot water in a little bowl and steam if for 15 mins then I get to work scraping and knocking all the the chunks of ice out. I remove the screw holding it together get a straw and knock out the ice inside that covers the opening where the fan is trying to blow through. You can see where it's blocking once you open the maker up inside. I hate this refrigerator. I HATE I paid so much for it and it is crap.

Folks, question.... when you use the defrost function (on the control panel) do you need to remove the food from the freezer? It is my bottom icemaker that cycles but doesn't appear to be getting any water.

My Samsung refrigerator just got its ice master frozen up with ice underneath the ice maker unit. I used hair blower to dry and removed the frozen ice... Follow instruction on the internet to try to remove the ice maker unit but not success because it has another screw on the right side of the unit (front facing the ice maker). I bought this Samsung in November 2014 from Home Depot along with extended warranty. I think I may have to call Home Depot for service. I can't believe the SamSung only last a little more than 2 years!!!!

My Samsung French door is also doing the same thing. I am not able to get the control panel to respond my pressing the suggested buttons. So I pressed the freezer and refrigerator temp control buttons at the same time, all lights came on for a few seconds, pressed another button and only response was a po in upper left corner of screen. Not sure what this means. But then all the original lights came back on. It never went to a black screen or to any other screen. I am out of warranty. Anyone else have this problem with the panel?

My Samsung French door refrigerator model RF28HMED has the same issue (http://www.samsung.com/us/home-appliances/refrigerators/french-door/36-wide-28-cu-ft-4-door-french-door-refrigerator-stainless-steel-rf28hmedbsr-aa/).

The ice bucket is completely stuck and will not come out. The sequence of keys to initiate the Forced Defrost did not work on my model but I was able to find the service manual for my particular refrigerator after much googling.

Follow these steps work to initiate the test mode and defrost cycle -

4-1-1. Test mode (manual operation / manual defrost function)• If Freezer Key + Lighting Key on the front of panel are pressed simultaneously for 8 seconds , it will be changed to the test mode and all displays on the front of panel will be off.• If any key on the front of panel is pressed within 15 seconds after the test mode, it will be operated as below sequence : Manual operation1(FF) Manual operation2(OF r) -> manual defrost of fresh food compartments(rd) -> manual defrost of fresh and freezer compartments(Fd) -> cancel(Display all off)• If any key on the front of panel is not pressed within 15 seconds after the test mode, the test mode will be canceled and it will be returned to previous mode.

You can find this information on pages 60-61.Access the service manual here - http://rdp.electronicsrevived.com/manuals/Appliances/Samsung%20Service%20Manuals/Refridgerators/RF25HMEDBSR_AA/AW3-14_RF28H-141013.pdf

My fridge is the four door style. Before a year was up, I had it serviced by Samsung twice. The issues were with the ice maker and the water dispenser pressure. Now that my warranty is expired, I'm fu#%?$ because the ice maker is junk. It frosts up then freezes. Won't make anymore ice because it's frozen. Did all the repairs many of you talked about but it still won't make ice. The damn blue reset button won't even chime. I'm so sick of this problem. I spent ALOT of money on this model and demand Samsung refund me. With all the complaints there must be a way. I'll never buy a Samsung refrigerator again. So much for a Samsung kitchen suite. Like one guy said earlier, they need to stick to making TVs.

Same problem occurred to me, 15 days after my warranty expired so did my ice maker. I used a steamer to defrost my unit and pulled it out. It's happened twice again! my Samsung microwave died a month later, Samsung units looks great works like crap!I will never buy a Samsung Appliance again.

OMG! I'm having all the same problems. Every Samsung product we bought gave us trouble with the exception of the tv so far. Our dishwasher was replaced after 2 major repairs - had extended warranty- dryer, had an issue, washer had an issue other than recall but microwave I've had replace.... but the darn ice maker 3 time I've had to call for service and it's never been right from the first repair. Now the service guy wants me to defrost the whole fridge for 36 hours in order to repair ice maker - all under extended Warranty- If I scrape off ice build up it still makes perfect ice in the overflow freezer drawer but frosted ice in the main dispenser.

I am having the same problems with my Samsung icemaker Model RF263BEAEBBC/AA. I see class action lawsuit in Samsung future especially when I die from thawing with a hair dryer...we need ice Samsung and you might also in hell if you don't fix this enormous problem.

Here's my theory after 1.5 years of trial and error. The styrofoam used to insulate the coil is inferior. As we know, water expands as it freezes. With each thaw and freeze of the coil, water seeped into the styrofoam. with each freezing, it expanded into the styrofoam. This would explain why for the first 1-1.5 years all works well. Then with each defrost cycle, the channels within the styrofoam grow in size until water is exposed in the dome over the fan housing. At one point during my investigation I left the ice maker off, ice maker removed, fan removed ice storage container removed. Within a week I had a 1"x1"x3" log of ice perfectly formed on the dome over where the fan would be. The reason the frequency of freeze up accelerates from annual to bi-weekly is the first time the ice maker is removed the coil has to be bent downward, which breaks the seal of the styrofoam around the coil. Thus every defrost cycle leaks water down the styrofoam from the point of coil insertion, down into the vent for future freezing.

I injected additional foam insulation (used for filling between studs behind drywall) to extend the foam along the coil so water would drip into the tray of the ice maker during defrost (about 3/4"). This helped with front drips from base of coil. Then I injected an additional 1" of insulation up into the dome over the fan. This got me a month or so before freezing, but turns out even the new foam became saturated with water/freeze/water, resulting in ice forming into the vent again. I then removed the bottom piece of plastic forming the floor of the vent, which prevented ice forming from the bottom up, confirming the top down formation pattern. I've now purchased a 3" in diameter aquarium heater (7.5 volts) to present local heat source to keep ice from forming, since I cannot eliminate the source of the water. It slides right under the fan on the auger assembly unit. It succeeded in preventing the ice formation on the dome for days (while all other hardware [ice maker, fan/auger, ice bucket] removed and ice maker off). I've reassembled everything and hopeful for continued success. If I'm that lucky after a year and a half of my life almost solely devoted to this engineering debacle, I'll fwd more detailed info on the solution.

From all of your contacts with Cust. Service, Geek Squad, etc., has anyone learned of design/manufacturing changes implemented by Samsung after any certain date/time that have definitively resolved the icemaker problem for all time?

If so, I really would like to buy the Flex refrig. Model RF23J9011SG (4-door, black stainless) which is on sale at Costco.com; if I could obtain the manufacturing date of items currently being sold by Costco (and if such a mftrg. fix as I imagine above had actually occurred) I might be able to avoid the dreaded icemaker syndrome (in theory).

FWIW, I would never EVER purchase a Samsung large appliance. Ever. If you don't think this refrigerator thing is bad, you should see the issue with the washing machine. There were even more reports of problems, the problem was dangerous, and their "fix" was to PAINT OVER the original settings on the dial to remove the "bedding" setting. Obviously this means you could still put the dial on the setting (and hurt your machine or people).

They may know how to make screens, but they are ABYSMAL with large appliances, and they are even worse at *making things right* for the consumer.

It may sound strange after years of American products sucking in the 80's/90's, but the "original American" brands, even if they aren't being made in America, are the current leaders in large appliance reliability (Whirlpool, KitchenAid, Amana, etc.). Electrolux is great too (on certain items), but you definitely pay a premium.

We purchased the Samsung rf32fmqdbsr model about two years ago from Home Depot. About a year ago we started having problems with the ice maker.. continue making ice when it was full, so the ice in the bucket would bridge with what's in the tray. So it would no longer make ice, until it was defrosted and ice dam removed. We bought the extended warranty (thank God ). We had the repair company at our house EIGHT TIMES FOR THIS REPAIR. They never did fix it. After 9 months of doing this, Home Depot refunded us the full purchase price, plus the cost of the extended warranty. Now I just shut the ice off on the door after it runs for a few hours, use the ice until the tray is empty, then turn it back on

SOLUTION: I have the problem with the ice building up, the slushy ice and the water comming out of the ice box.

Just had a service technician here, that used a technique that was recently created from Samsung. The problem is that ice builds up, and clogs the fan. When the fan is not working properly, it does not cool properly.

To fix, you have to use a knife, to cut out parts of the plastic and styrofoam on both sides in the back, so that the water buildup can pass trough and not build up.

I have a picture here, just when he did his first cut:https://www.jottacloud.com/p/sutcivni/2e4426b24c484649a9c5735006daa7e6

You have to cut like this on both sides, break off the plastic. Then cut the styrofoam.

PS: This was done today, so I am not sure this really fixes the issue for me. However, he said this was official. And that he had done this sucessfully on a few refridgerators already :)

Last time I defrosted my ice maker and reset it, it started generating frost on the top quite fast. And you could see that the ice was not really frozen, and a bit wet.

Now it has minimal with frost. And the ice seems very frozen.

So hoping for the best :)

PS: The service bulletin is just from April. So the fix is quite new. Are you sure you are talking about the same fix?

PSPS: I am sure that many people would love to have the actual service bulletin. You are welcome: https://www.jottacloud.com/p/sutcivni/b085e27bb88d4099aaa86ff71c03a7d2

PSPSPS: Here in Norway we have 5 year factory warranty on electrical appliances, that is meant to last longer than 3 years. Refridgerators is in that category. Since my refridgerator is only 3 years old, I got the whole fix for free. And if there is more trouble I will get them to come back untill it is fixed. Then I will keep you updated. (Since I do not pay, I assume they are much more likely to provide proper fixes here, instead of in countries that only have 1 year, and people have to pay themselves). Just saying ;)